Wow! What a Great Week! -- And, boy, am I old!

This week I have had the privilege of preaching eight times at Heritage Christian Academy in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey for the 2008-2009 Spiritual Emphasis week. (I also had the privilege of preaching in chapel last Friday at Faith Baptist School in Salisbury, Maryland and three time on Sunday at Mosherville Bible Church in Mosherville, Pennsylvania, to make for 12 times in the last 8 days.) I love to preach and I love to preach to our folks here in Salisbury, but I also love it when the Lord gives me opportunity to preach at a different location and (having served in youth ministry from 1990-2003) preaching to young people is a special joy. The theme for the week was "profit that matters" with a theme verse of Mark 8:36 Mark 8:36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Heritage Christian Academy is a great school that is led by Mr. Ron Hamilton (no, not THAT Ron Hamilton). Mr. Hamilton (whome I knew as "Pastor Ron") was my Youth Pastor at Heart to Heart Bible Church in Phoenix, Arizona when I was a fairly new believer in Christ as a teenager. Pastor Ron's influence in my life has been an ongoing and profound. As a teenager, his life and consistent faithfulness for Christ were an example and challenge to me - a challenge to me that has continued to this day. In addition to the overall effect of his life, he also helped me specifically in giving me a chance to preach as a teenager and helping me to prepare my first "real" sermon and a sermon I heard by him as a teenager encouraged me that God can use me, despite (perhaps because of) the weak vessel that I am. It was also a special treat to me to see a number of my former teens who are now serving the Lord by teaching at Heritage Christian Academy and helping out in other ways in the ministry there at Heritage Baptist Church. There were four teachers at the school who had been in my youth groups at various times in their lives. This fact was encouragement to me - but it also made me feel very OLD. To see Pastor Ron's daughter Beth (a 24-year old nurse at the same hospital in New Jersey where my wife worked for 9 years) especially made me feel old, since I knew her when she was still in a car seat when I was a teenager in Arizona and she was later in my youth group there at Heritage. I also had the privilege of meeting up with some other friends and students from years gone by. It was an exciting week. Thank you to all who made the time enjoyable. Just my thoughts, Frank

An Awesome Speech by a Little Girl

I generally shy away from posting YouTube videos on my blog because one click of the video moves you to the YouTube site where the comments are often not appropriate reading. However, this speech by this young lady on the topic of abortion is so well done, I thought I would try to "embed" a YouTube video here at A Thinking Man's Thoughts for the first time. Hopefully this will work. It is my understanding that this young lady won first place for this speech - after a judge quit in protest. I do not know anything about this young lady, but her message is very good. May God use it in the ears of the many who need to hear. Some related posts on this topic: A National Scandal Consider This Change I Wish We Didn't Need to Believe In There's Something Rotten in the State of ... New Jersey (Part 2) Just my thoughts, Frank

Spiritual Emphasis Week at Heritage Christian Academy in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey

Next week, I will have the privilege of preaching a spiritual emphasis week for the young people at Heritage Christian Academy in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey. I am looking forward to visiting Heritage again, as it has been a while since I have been up there. Heritage Baptist Church and Christian Academy was our first place of full-time ministry and it is neat that some of the teachers and staff at HCA now were teens in my youth group when I was the Youth Pastor at Heritage. I am looking forward to seeing them again. I have to admit that it always makes me feel a little old when I end up visiting with former teens of mine who are now grown up, married with children, serving in ministry, etc. Anyway, I will be preaching for the older chapel every day and for the elementary chapel on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The theme for the week is "What Shall it Profit a Man." (Granted the theme is geared more for the older students than the younger students.) I would love to catch up with some of you readers who may be in the area. Drop me a note and we can try to meet up while I am up in New Jersey. Just my thoughts, Frank

And you thought putting a fox in charge of a hen house was bad...

I don't really like to do politics too much on this blog, but the reality is that many times, political issues are also moral and Biblical issues. Jesus said that "whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart" (Matthew 5:28). Now, it is true that in the wickedness of man's heart this sin can be committed by anyone and it does not require that the woman who is the object of the lust be dressed in an immodest fashion, the reality is that a whole industry - a powerful and rich industry - exists that seeks to encourage this sin. The pornography industry is one of he most dispicable of industries that blight our nation. I read today, however, that one of the great supporters of the pornography industry has been nominated by President Obama as Deputy Attorney General - David Ogden. The Justice Department is charged with prosecuting our laws - including laws against child pornographers. Instead, David Ogden has fought to make it harder to prosecute child pornographers. According to The Witherspoon Institute, in this article: David Ogden and the New Pornographers: Why the Senate Should Reject His Nomination In addition to making it harder to prosecute those who sell images of child molestation and rape, Ogden has sought to ensure that pornography can be easily distributed and readily accessed in almost any medium or location. He has fought cases in Puerto Rico to allow Playboy to broadcast explicit programming on TV. He represented Philip Harvey, a man who runs the nation’s largest mail-order pornography shop out of North Carolina, in his attempt to deflect a Department of Justice investigation of his business. Completing a sort of multi-media grand slam, Ogden has sued to allow sexually-explicit content to be transmitted over the phone. Taking this quest to its absurd limits, he has even claimed in court that there is a constitutional right for pornography to be kept in firehouses. Ogden’s position is good for the industry groups he has represented but bad for female firefighters who could be subjected to humiliating and harassing images in the workplace. With an equal disregard for the comfort and protection of children, in 2000 Ogden sued to allow pornography to be accessed in public libraries. Americans should reject this "Change We Can Believe In" and should encourage their Senators to do the same. Albert Mohler has some additional thoughts on the topic, here. Just my thoughts, Frank